The Granada Relocation Center, also known as Amache, was one of ten internment camps for Japanese Americans built during World War II and the only one in Colorado.

Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. The order allowed the military to declare certain areas of the country military areas, which then paved the way for the removal and internment of Japanese Americans. These military areas were along the West Coast.

The decision was called a “military necessity,” but the Japanese Americans affected were not charged with crimes or given judicial hearings. They were targeted because of widespread fear that they were spies and loyal to Japan, though they were American citizens.

Collection contains clippings, reports, and other material related to the Amache Japanese Relocation Center (also known as the Granada Relocation Center) located near the town of Granada in Prowers County, Colorado. One of ten relocation camps created by the Roosevelt administration after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Granada Relocation Center opened on August 27, 1942. Nearly all the residents of the camp were forcibly removed from the West Coast. At its peak, the camp held over 7,300 people. The camp closed on October 15, 1945. Today, portions of the camp, as well as the nine other relocation centers in the United States, are being restored as museums.

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History Colorado

Manuscript collection

Amache opened in August 1942 and closed in October 1945. In between, more than 10,000 men, women, and children passed through Amache. At its peak, the camp housed 7,318 people of Japanese ancestry, ⅓ of whom were Issei (Japanese-born) and ⅔ of whom were Nisei (American-born citizens).

Photograph, Amache Barracks

Internees lived in fiberboard or asbestos shingle-sided barracks arranged in military grids. The 200-acre site was surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guard towers staffed by armed military policemen.

Photograph, Women with Luggage

In 1943, all Japanese Americans who were interned were asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine if they were loyal or disloyal to the United States. The form was confusing to many, and asked people to “forswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese Emperor or any other foreign government, power, or organization.” Though the US was also at war with Germany and Italy, German and Italian Americans were not asked to fill out forms stating they were loyal to the US.

The internment camps (shown on this map with triangles and labeled WRA Relocation Center) were located in isolated areas where not many people lived, like deserts or swamps.

Standards for The Granada Relocation Center